Check the automatic renewal

Once you’ve approved automatic renewal, check to see what type of renewal you’ll get.

One of Microsoft’s tricks has been to auto-renew at the monthly price – which is the most expensive way to get Office 365. Great for Microsoft’s bottom line, not so great for customers.

Go to your Office 365 Manage Account web page and ensure that the renewal is set for the yearly price, not the monthly one. You can change it from the link on that page.

Beat the automatic renewal

Just because you’ve chosen automatic renewal and received your extra month of Office 365 doesn’t mean you have to use expensive auto-renewal.

Just make sure you ‘top up’ your Office 365 account before the auto-renew date. By a cheaper Office 365 annual subscription and use that code to extend the expiry date.

Make a note in your calendar for a few weeks or a month before the automatic renewal date.

Warning: Microsoft really discourages turning off auto-renewal. At the moment, the ‘Turn off auto-renew’ link takes you to a ‘Cancel Office 365’ page! That could be a mistake but more likely a not-so-subtle way to stop people opting out of an option which increases Microsoft’s revenue.